Commonwealth Games can lift Lanka’s economy

Bidding for 2018 to be held on November 11:

Shirajiv Sirimane in St. Kitts and Nevis

The Sri Lankan contingent to attend the bid evaluation for the Commonwealth Games for 2018 left on a SriLankan Airlines chartered flight to St. Kitts and Nevis yesterday.

The vote will decide if Hambantota or Gold Coast in Australia will host the games in 2018.

The voting for the bid takes place on November 11.

Sri Lanka has to secure 36 votes from the 71 member Commonwealth Games countries to win this bid.

The vote in favour of Sri Lankan will mean that it would bring the third biggest sporting event in the world after Olympics and the Football World Cup to Sri Lanka enabling the country to move to the next step in the economic ladder similar to Malaysia.

Out of the 71 countries in the Commonwealth it’s surprising to note that 66 countries including Sri Lanka has never hosted a Commonwealth Games and Australia has already hosted four games and many member countries prefer to award the bid to new nation like Sri Lanka which will help to improve the country’s infrastructure.

Australia (1938, 1962, 1982, 2006) and Canada (1930, 1954, 1978, 1994) have hosted the Games four times; New Zealand (1950, 1974, 1990) three times; England (1934, 2002) and Scotland (1970, 1986) twice; and Wales (1958), Jamaica (1966), Malaysia (1998) and India (2010) once. With Scotland hosting Glasgow 2014, a Hambantota 2018 Games will install Sri Lanka as the tenth country in a list that would have added three ‘new’ hosts in two decades.

Though the event is a sporting event it would have a major impetus to the economy and Sri Lanka is to use to take the country to the next level as when Malaysia hosted it.

The team leader, Central Bank Governor Ajit Nivard Cabraal said hosting of the games will usher economic prosperity to the nation and take the country to be the wonder of Asia even earlier than expected.

Sri Lanka can do it

Given the opportunity to host the world’s fourth largest sporting event, the Commonwealth Games in 2018 will help the country to transform itself from a middle income nation to the level.

The Bank Governor Central said that when Malaysia made a bid to host the 1998 Commonwealth Games in 1991, they were in the same economic equations like Sri Lanka.

In 1991, Malaysia’s per capita income was US$ 2700 a GDP of US $ 60 billion and had a population of 18.5 million along with several other equations were similar to Sri Lanka today.

“When the city was awarded the bid to host the games it helped Malaysia to be converted to an economic hub and today it is a developed country. Places like Puthrajaya which were isolated cities transformed in to major international cities after the games and this too will happen to Hambantota, he said. One of the unique features of the Commonwealth plan is that the government would be only investing 25 percent for the infrastructure with private sector set to play a bigger role.

Cabraal said in Sri Lanka too a seven year plan has been made to win medals at the 2018 games in Hambantota and this trend too is expected to happen to Sri Lanka.

He said today a 1,000 acre area in the Hambantota city is being converted to an international sports city where hosting of events such as international Rugby Sevens, the SAF games, T20 World Cup or even Asian games is possible which would also yield economic and tourism benefits.

Hambantota needs 4,000 rooms

It is expected that with the rapid development that is taking place in Hambantota with an international harbour, airport and BPO facilities and international IT campuses and other trading activities housing is going to be a major problem in the future. The commonwealth games would add 4,000 rooms to Hambantota and some of these would be ready in three years time bringing a solution to this problem.

Shangri La and other hotels investing in Hambantota will offer 1,500 three star class plus rooms during the games period.

The Governor said from a spectator and a tourists point of view the Hambantota games would be more economical as the total package for the games including hotel accommodation and tickets would cost less than 3,000 pounds while in the Gold Coast the minimum package would be more than 5,000 pounds. Sri Lanka, which is emerging from decades of ethnic conflict amidst allegations of war crimes, hopes to use the games as a platform to attract investments to the country’s economy.

“However we do not need a sympathy vote. What we need is to vote on our ability to show the world that Sri Lanka too can successfully host an event of this magnitude,” Commonwealth Games Bid Committee CEO Nalin Attygalle said.

New venues

Atiygalle said investors are already inquiring as to how they could get involved with the games and this is very encouraging.

All venues except the existing Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium - set to host the opening and closing ceremonies - will be newly built and completed between 2014 to 2016 ahead of the South Asian Games. They include a 40,000 capacity Athletics Stadium; 7,500 capacity International Aquatics Centre; 7,000 capacity Hockey Stadium; 2,500 capacity Exhibition Centre; 5,000 capacity Main Arena; Multi-Sport Complex and Velodrome.

The Games Village will also include an athletics track and a 50m training pool.

One of the key movers of this project MP, Namal Rajapaksa said the venues and sites would not be made to idle after the games.

“We have a master plan so that this investment could be prudently used in the future too,” he said.

The Athletic Village would become a residential hub to support the Business and IT Park and University that is being proposed.

“None of the hotel rooms that are going to be built would be idling and they would have business as rapid economic development will take place,” he said.

He also said that plans are now under way to extend the proposed Colombo Matara highway upto Arugambay via Hambantota so that a tourist could go to this coastal area in quick time before the games. He also said that the publicity the country is gaining as a destination and especially Hambantota will automatically help to promote Deep South tourism.

He said the direct and indirect employment generation if the city hosts the games is tremendous.

An entrepreneur cum sports administrator Kiran Atapattu said the hosting of the games will give a massive shot of energy to the economy, tourism and also sports.

This will help the country to further develop the economy.

“The benefits of hosting the games would not only be to Hambantota and Sri Lanka but it would also trickle to other neighbouring countries as they get the opportunity to market their products via the games,” he said.

He also said one must remember that sports are not only games unlike two decades ago. “Today it’s a tool to market a country and bring in revenue.”

The Gold Coast is considered as Australia’s fastest growing large city with Gross Regional Product rising from A$9.7 billion to A$15.6 billion in recent times.

With the rapid development that is taking place in Hambantota the Commonwealth games evaluation commission says that Sri Lanka now has a 50-50 chance to host the games.

A member from Samoa, Niko Palamo who visited Hambantota told Daily News Business that a lot of developed countries have already hosted the Games three or four times.

“And so for hosting (the Games) to them its another event. But it’s like Sri Lanka is representing the other 60 developing countries who haven’t hosted the Games so far,” he said.

Member of Parliament an Samoa and Secretary of National Olympic Committee, Tuala Niko Palamo said a vote for Sri Lanka to host the games would be a vote for the people of Sri Lanka.

A Vice President of the National Olympic Committee of Malaysia who visited Hambantota area to evaluate Sri Lanka’s Commonwealth Games bid progress said he was surprised the team work the country is putting towards making the hosting of the Commonwealth Games a success.

Many say that if the bid is offered to Gold Coast it would be only for Gold Coast and if given to Sri Lanka, entire population will reap benefits for years to come. “If the Commonwealth is hosted in Gold Coast it would be like foot prints in the beach that would be wiped away almost instantaneously.

“In contrast if its given to Sri Lanka the whole region would socially and economically gain for many years,” she added.

[email protected]